The LED clock has its pipes exposed

For most hackers and makers, building a clock is a rite of passage. Few, however, will be as unusual and attractive as this design by [TerraG2].

By combining addressable LEDs, light pipes and 7-segment displays, [TerraG2] has built a watch that looks great and is sure to be a great conversation piece too. It's packed with features like automatic brightness control, an accelerometer-controlled user interface, and Wi-Fi to ensure it's always accurate.

Partial rear view of the clock showing illuminated light pipes

The decision to let the visible light pipes behind the main display really make the project stand out from other clock builds, and the methods [TerraG2] used to achieve this look will no doubt be transferable to a host of other projects.

The LEDs are courtesy of a standard 8x8 RGB array, with a custom 3D-printed shroud to hold the light pipes in place, and a smart connector on the other end to illuminate the segments. With two LEDs per segment, seven segments per digit, and four digits, there's even room for additional functionality down the line if you can think of a use for those eight spare LEDs.

The brain of the project is an ESP8266 D1 with an MPU6050 inertial measurement unit (IMU) to detect when it's flipped over to change the color scheme.

Full documentation is on Github, and a video of the clock being used is after the break.

Light pipes have been put to good use in some other clock projects we've seen, such as this modern Nixie clock and "clock of clocks", as well as this light organ we've shown recently.